Friday, July 13, 2007

Two murders on the East side last night: a man was stabbed to death near the Perkins Homes, a man was shot in the 400 block of North Bouldin Street at about 7:30 p.m. Also on the East side, Clayborn Johnson, 59, died Tuesday after being beaten on Sunday in the 2000 block of North Bentalou Street. And in the Western, a man on his stoop was shot in the arm.

A city jury convicted Greene on May 10, 2007 of entering the pizza shop and shooting at the victims as they were waiting for their food order. Mr. Javon Lee, 16, died from his injuries; the other three victims suffered non-life threatening injuries: Renard Hunt, 16, of 3100 Westmont Court, James King, 17, of 1400 Poplar Grove and Marvin Williams, 17, of 1200 Ashburton Street.

During the course of the trial, an identifying witness, Pharoah Carr, and a close friend of Greene, left Maryland to avoid testifying at trial. Prosecutor Diana Smith successfully used a provision in the new witness intimidation passed by the legislature in 2005 that allowed her to offer Carr’s photo identification and taped statement despite Carr’s absence. After the Court granted the State’s motion to allow the photo array and taped statements into evidence, Carr appeared for trial.

We'll soon be bidding a sad adieu to the Magnet Bar, best known as the quintessential dive near North Avenue where local service workers can grab an after-work quaff at 4 a.m. But the shell of the Chesapeake on Charles and E. Lanvale, an eyesore for 30+ years, gets to stay an eyesore.

About 10 years ago, if you had asked a group of children, if you had 30 young people, and you had asked them if anyone had witnessed a violent act, if anyone ever had a loved one become the victim of a violent act, or who had been killed as the result of a homicide, you might have had five or 10 of those kids to raise their hands. Now, you have 20.

Jessamy goes on to blame the City's parents, saying Baltimore's grownups "need to shoulder their responsibilities as adults to help prevent crime before it starts."

How flaccid is Team Dixon? She tried to have a felon released for his son's funeral, but wasn't able to use her Mayorial pull to get him out of the state-run Central Booking. Now she says she never should have tried in the first place, because the guy's got a scary criminal record (well he is in jail!). Someone teach that woman to use the "JIS"!

Monday, July 9, 2007

Herve Massaba must take great comfort in the political posturing about how the only people affected by crime in Baltimore are the people who are involved in crime in Baltimore. Of course, this happened in Baltimore County, so maybe things are different out there. Interestingly, the article in the Sun did not mention the woman who was paralyzed after being shot in the neck in Fells Point a few days before Massaba was shot.

The reckless endangerment trial against Shanda Harris has been postponed until September 5. Harris is the mother of 11-year-old Irvin Harris, who was allegedly murdered by babysitter / convicted sex offender Melvin Jones.

The first-degree murder trial against Melvin "Tight Rope" Faulkner is scheduled to begin tomorrow. Faulkner is accused of murdering Pierre Alston at 3620 Edmondson Ave. on May 5, 2006.

Kevin Warren was arrested during a traffic stop on July 6, shortly after being featured on America's Most Wanted. Warren was charged with first- and second-degree murder for killing 13-year-old Briona Porter during a robbery of her family's new ice cream truck.

The man who was fatally shot in a triple shooting on Friday night was identified as 25-year-old George Thomas Johnson. The shooting was originally reported as being in the 1900 block of E. Lafayette Ave., but is now listed around the corner in the 800 block of N. Payson St.

There was a shooting this morning in the 3700 block of Offutt Rd. in Randallstown. Last night, two men were injured in two separate shootings, one in the 700 block of N. Rose St., and one in the 2000 block of Westwood Ave.

Two bottle bombs blew up in a Harford County parking lot on Sunday morning, and two undetonated bombs required bomb squad intervention.